Marketing Tactics

Fort Lee, N.J. — Supermarkets are facing increased competition from dollar stores, according to a new survey from Perception Research Services International.

Mumbai -- Starbucks Coffee Co. on Friday entered its 61st country with the opening of its first store in India, in a historic building in southern Mumbai. The store is owned and operated by Tata Starbucks Limited, the 50/50 joint venture between Starbucks and Tata Global Beverages Limited. The company plans to open two additional stores in Mumbai next week before launching in New Delhi in early 2013.

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys"R"Us has extended its free layaway program through Dec. 16. The program, announced in September, was originally slated to end on Oct. 31.

NEW YORK — Macy's is hoping to entice the coveted 13- to 30-year-old market with the launch of its millenial initiative.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — ChannelAdvisor, a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions that enable retailers to increase global sales, has partnered with Kabbage Inc., an online provider of working capital for small businesses, to offer ChannelAdvisor customers direct access to a new source of funding in time for the 2012 holiday season.

PITTSBURGH — Dick's Sporting Goods has launched its first-ever winter coat trade-in event.

From Oct. 21 through Oct. 27, customers can donate their gently-worn winter coats at their local Dick's store. Donated coats will then be distributed in the United States to those in need through a partnership with World Vision.

SEATTLE — Another day, another toy list, this time from Amazon.com. The company has launched its 2012 holiday toy list and corresponding web page, where customers can discover hundreds of this year’s most popular and top rated toys, books, video games, electronics, movies, sporting goods and more.

A funny thing happened on the way to the department store: luxury goods became accessible to consumers online and at increasingly deeply discounted prices. Thanks to a spate of discount websites offering “flash sales” or exclusive, limited-time offerings, the flash sale phenomenon has revolutionized the way consumers shop, offering an entry into the luxury market at a fraction of the price.  

No wonder Walmart comps are increasing. Check out the latest monthly report from the ad tracking provider Market Track.

The month saw drop in the number of circulars released to the market by the majority of retailers. However, interestingly we saw flyers increasing pages compared with last year for most of the retailers in the year over year comparison.

Walmart had a significant increase in both the number of circulars as well as number of pages when compared with same time last year.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Target has announced plans to open a new store in Chicago.  The 190,000-sq.-ft. store, to be  located on West Division and North Larrabee Streets, is scheduled to open in October 2013.

To date, Target has announced plans to open 10 Target stores in 2013, including CityTargets in Los Angeles, Portland and San Francisco.